Rum reviews, classic cocktails, tiki drinks & amari

Coconut Rum Challenge

Just saying “coconut rum” to the average cocktail purist elicits some strange looks and snide remarks. But as snobby as I am about rum, I stand here before you today and admit freely:

I like coconut rum.

I submit that the right drink with a good coconut rum served at the right time can tickle the taste buds of all but the most ardent coconut haters. Picture a Lei Lani Volcano in a tiki mug on the lanai at sunset—nothing wrong with that in my book!

Perhaps these anti-coconut rum types had one sip of Malibu years ago and decided drinking sweetened suntan lotion wasn’t for them. Well, luckily for us there is more to coconut rum than Malibu, and today we’ll find out just how much more there is. We’ll examine twelve commercially available coconut rums, make our own coconut rum, perform a blind taste test, and answer the question once and for all “What’s the best coconut rum?” Finally, we’ll wrap it up by sharing a few recipes that make the most of this much-maligned ingredient. Let’s get to it!

The Rums

As I looked for coconut rums online and in stores, just a few brands were ubiquitous, Malibu and Bacardi chief among them. I found Cruzan to be pretty widely distributed, as well as Captain Morgan’s Parrot Bay. After that there are a number of lesser-known brands, including many available only in 1.75 liter bottles (the true hallmark of quality).

As for common threads, almost all of these store-bought coconut rums were made of white rum, sugar, natural and artificial flavors, and bottled at just 21% ABV. At 42 proof, these are less coconut rums and more coconut liqueurs, but the vocabulary is what it is. The 21% formulation is related to the tax structure for spirits in the U.S.—any higher than that, and the taxes rise substantially. The most popular rum source for these products was Barbados, which makes sense given its general style: smooth, balanced and approachable.

Here are the twelve commercially available coconut rums we’ll be sampling (listed alphabetically):

Admiral Nelson’s Coconut Rum

Bacardi Coconut Rum

Bartender’s “I’m Coconuts Over You” Coconut Rum

Calico Jack Coconut Rum

Captain Morgan’s Parrot Bay Coconut Rum

Coruba Coconut Rum

Cruzan Coconut Rum

Don Q Coco

Kingston Coconut Rum

Largo Bay Coconut Rum

Malibu

Malibu Black

There are certainly more coconut rums on the market, but these twelve represent most of what’s readily (and not so readily) available here in California.

DIY Coconut Rum

In addition to the commercially available coconut rums, we’re adding a DIY coconut rum to the mix. Not having made a coconut rum infusion before, I took to the Web and found Marcia Simons’ recipe at Serious Eats. It looked easy as pie and sounded good, so I went with it. Essentially all you need do is:

Grab a mature (brown) coconut

Drain the water (pop a hole through two of the “eyes”)

Crack it open (I use a sharpening steel for this)

Scrape/cut out the coconut “meat”

Add the coconut meat to a Mason jar

Cover with the white rum of your choice

Let it sit for two weeks in a dark place

Re-decant through a cheese cloth into the original bottle

Given that Barbados rum seemed to be the go-to for the big guys, I decided to follow suit. Shellback Silver is a Bajan rum bottled in California that has significant vanilla and fruit notes in its flavor profile, so it seemed like a good choice for the base. Three differences in this homemade formulation are important to note:

No sugar added

No artificial flavors added

40% ABV (80 proof) is the highest alcohol content of the field

The Tasting

With the rums selected and the homemade rum ready, it was time to taste! My assistant poured the 13 coconut rums into coded tasting snifters and I got to work. Given that many of the flavors were quite strong, I rinsed with water between each sample in an effort to combat palate confusion.

The Results

With the tasting complete, I married the coded samples to their bottles and tabulated the results. Here they are from worst to first:

No. 4: Homemade Coconut Rum Infusion
Producer: Inu A Kena
Rum Origin: Barbados
ABV /US Proof: 40%/80°
Price/750 ml: $17
Nose: Mild astringency, slight nuttiness, hint of tropical fruit
Taste: Really soft entry, immediately reminiscent of coconut water. Coconut flavor in the way we typically think is barely there, but the coconut water flavor is very prominent. Like drinking a coconut water spiked with white rum. Not unpleasant, but not a replacement for what we call “coconut rum” either. Would be fun to play with in cocktails, though.
Score: 3

UPDATE:Since the Coconut Challenge was published, I have received a few coconut rums from smaller distilleries, and I am happy to report there are even better coconut rums out there. One such rum is Koloa Kauai Coconut rum, which scored an 8 out of 10 in our recent review. Read the review here.

The Drinks

Now that we had selected the best coconut rum, it was time to mix up some drinks.

Coconut Rum Drink Recipe No. 1

We’ll begin with the aforementioned Leilani Volcano, which happens to be my wife’s favorite tiki drink. Like most tiki drink recipes I’m familiar with, I learned of this one via Jeff “Beachbum” Berry. The drink was originally served in the 1970s at Walt Disney World’s Polynesian Resort, but don’t let that dissuade you from trying it—this isn’t kid stuff when made with the right coconut rum.

Leilani means “heavenly lei” or “royal child” in Hawaiian; the volcano refers to the bowl in which the original drink was served. Nowadays you’re more likely to find it served in a tiki mug or Zombie glass, however. Here’s the recipe:

Leilani Volcano

3 oz guava nectar

1.5 oz pineapple juice

.75 oz fresh lime juice

.25 oz simple syrup

2.5 oz coconut rum

Shake well with ice cubes. Pour unstrained into the vessel of your choice. Garnish with a cherry speared to an orange slice. If you find this too tame, you can use 1.5 oz coconut rum and one ounce white rum to increase the octane.

Coconut Rum Drink Recipe No. 2

Up next is another drink from Beachbum Berry—an original drink he created called the Miehana. If you’re good at word play, you may have already noticed Miehana is Anaheim spelled backwards. Looking at Rum Dood’s article on the drink, I learned that Jeff created this drink for a particular mug at a Polynesian style exhibit at the Anaheim Museum in 1996. The Miehana is a great coconut rum drink with a recipe anyone can remember after a few times because of the equal proportions.

Miehana

1 oz fresh lime juice

1 oz orange juice

1 oz pineapple juice

1 oz Grand Marnier

1 oz gold rum

1 oz coconut rum

Shake well with ice cubes. Pour unstrained into a tall glass, adding more ice to fill as needed. Garnish with an orange wheel, a stick of fresh pineapple, and a purple orchid (if available).

For the third and final drink, let’s be green and recycle a drink we already examined in-depth: the Goombay Smash. As you can read here the Goombay Smash is a drink invented at Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar in Abacos, Bahamas. Today you can find it served all over the Caribbean in various forms. Although Miss Emily’s recipe remains a family secret, we have a darn fine analog for you here.

Goombay Smash

1.5 oz Pusser’s rum (or other full-bodied navy rum)

.75 oz coconut rum

.25 oz Cointreau

3 oz pineapple juice

.25 oz fresh lime juice

.25 oz simple syrup

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake all the ingredients with ice cubes and pour unstrained into a tall glass, adding more ice to fill as needed. Garnish with an orange and a lime wheel.

Summing Up

Once again I’m amazed by the effect of blind tasting spirits. While I used to use Bacardi Coconut routinely (at the suggestion of Jeff “Beachbum” Berry) I fully expected to like Cruzan the best, but without benefit of seeing the bottle, I found it to be uniquely terrible. Another interesting note was that when I tasted the Coruba prior to the blind tasting, I found it to be far worse than when I tried it blind. I suppose I was expecting more, given that I enjoy Coruba dark. Ahh, the psychology of taste and perception.

So now you know the difference between good coconut rum and sweetened suntan lotion. And what’s more, you know how to put it to work in a few top notch drinks that will transport you to lower latitudes and generate some positive vibrations.

Cheers,

Josh

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Tremendous! I will grab a bottle of the Bacardi, I had been a proponent of the Cruzan, and honestly was expecting the Coruba to be interesting. I too love the Coruba Dark. and I honestly was not super fond of the Cruzan, even though I had shilled for it in a general way in the past.

I’ll second Capn Jimbos reco of Brinley’s, an excellent rum – although if you want to try something that tastes even more like coconut I recommend kalani Coconut liqueur. if you can find it in the plain bottle it is only around $20, and tastes exactly like alcoholic coconut milk.

Josh, more good stuff. Here in South Florida coconuts are easy to come by, as are authentic coconut water and the like. It is not unusual to see a pickup truck full of fresh picked coconuts being sold by a big guy with a bigger machete. For $2 he’ll cut just the right opening for you to drink coconut water on the spot. When you’re done, he’ll cut it open and also cut off a small piece that serves to spoon out the coconut meat.

Altogether pretty fantastic.

We gave up on coconut rums because most of them are just chock full of very artificial flavors that aren’t even close to the real thing. Then we bought a Brinley’s Gold Coconut Rum and it knocked us out. The authenticity was obvious and it tasted like it was made with fresh coconut meat shavings. The reason:

It is. I received a long persona email from Zack Brinley states that this rum is made with real spices and real coconut, and yes some cane sugar. We’re not big on flavored rums, but Brinley’s Gold Coconut is one of a kind. I love to hear your take on it…

Just to take a sharp left turn on this one: I’m not really a fan of coconut flavoured rums: but I must mention the Plantation Barbados 20th Anniversary, with its interesting coconut background. It’s a rum that has it, without being it, if you get what I mean. Thoughts?

The Plantation 20th Anniversary, besides being my favorite rum in general, does have the strongest coconut notes of any non flavored rum I’ve ever tasted. Part of the reason I love it so. I look forward to bringing a couple of bottles down to Lost Spirits and Bryan Davis; one just as a gift and one for him to work his chem lab magic and tell me what woods and processes enable Plantation to get that coconuttiness.

At Ledger’s today I picked up an old style bottle of the Plantation 20th, like the one Josh reviewed in 2012. Since I’ve seen in Facebook comments that some think Plantation changed the blend over time, I gotta get some tasters together to compare with the current style of bottle.

Have you tried using dried unsweetened coconut meat instead of fresh? I would guess removing the water from the meat first might increase the coconut flavor during maceration. I haven’t yet tried this.

Marti Coco Suave, which seems almost extinct, blows all these away. In comparison, almost every rum listed here tastes more like cheap commercial piña colada flavored sucking candy. It came in a ceramic bottle, was 82.8%. less sugar, more alcohol, and it tasted like coconut. and nothing else. Somebody bring it back.

The CapyBar has done a number of comparative coconut rum tastings over the years with various friends. Of brands reasonably available in the US (at least it used to be; gotta check if it still is) Brinley Gold Shipwreck Coconut is the most popular. Ironically, it is not necessarily even the best on its home island; Belmont, also from St. Kitt’s although made by Demara Distillers, is also very popular with our tasters. As far as I know, it is not US-legal. Of foreign brands, the consistent winner is Cocomania from Wray and Nephew. Pretty much the consensus choice. However, I’ve heard awesome things about two that I haven’t tried yet. Bahama Bob Leonard, and most of the rest of South Florida, raves about the new Siesta Key Toasted Coconut. I’ve got a few bottles on order from a couple of sources, but haven’t got them yet. Dave Rum-Advocate Russell says that Marigot Bay Coconut, from St. Lucia distillers (Chairman’s Reserve) is the very best. Not distributed in the United States, but I am trying to get a sample.

Very interesting notes, Brian! I recently received a sample of Troy’s Toasted Coconut rum (Siesta Key). Happy to share a dram with you–it’s very good and quite unlike anything else out there. It’s on my list of rums to be reviewed.

Josh, I would love both to have a sip of Siesta Key Toasted Coconut and to meet you and learn more from you. For the next few months, while I recover from a pair of knee replacements, I will be free most afternoons and nearly every evening. I’d love to have you come over to the CapyBar and sample your SK along with a few of the coconut rums we have here. Specifically, I’d love your opinion on two bottles of Kalani that I have. One I got in Mexico more than a decade ago. The label is mostly in English and there is a US distributor listed, but I never found it in the US in those days. The other I picked up last year when Pacific Edge started distributing it in the Bay Area. I love them both, but they are a little different. The older bottle seems thicker and creamier and with a slightly stronger coconut taste. Not a big difference, but makes me wonder if (a) the taste changed over the long years in the bottle, sort of reverse degeneration; or (b) they changed the formula a bit over time; or (c) slightly different versions are sold in the US and Mexico. I’m guessing (b), but would like to start with an expert like yourself defining the difference. Also, if David, who left the comment about Marti Coco Suave is close enough to the Bay Area to join us, I have about a quarter bottle available to finish.

I’ll chime in to second that about the Marigot Bay Coconut Rum. I Just got back from St Lucia where I bought a bottle of the Marigot bay on a lark while in the airport waiting to leave. My wife likes coconut rum & Sprite and wanted some for the plane ride. All they had was 700ml bottles so that’s what I ended up with. I can say that the stewardesses did not like this…
I had actually visited the distillery – St Lucia Distillers (Chairman’s Reserve & 1931) – while there, but didn’t bother to taste the coconut rum while there. The company makes a good dozen or so rum creams and liqueurs like that and I was there to try the aged rums anyways.
To the point – the Marigot Bay Coconut rum is now my wife’s favorite. She loves this stuff. Admittedly, we have a limited selection where we live so Malibu, Parrot Bay, & Cruzan are the only points of comparison. I will say that it tastes richer and fuller with a more velvety mouthfeel to it than the Malibu or Parrot Bay.
I wish it was available here – now I’m stuck trying to source a few more bottles for my wife lol…

I still am trying to get my hands on some Marigot Bay, but meanwhile I am enjoying several other coconut rums, and I’ve had one more informal comparative tasting with some friends. Of the brands available here, Kalani is a favorite. Top choice of four out of five at my last tasting. Koloa and Don Q are two others which were well regarded compared to any supermarket brands. (ok, Don Q, based on price and corporate volume, might be a supermarket brand, but it is made more like the craft brands of flavored rums). Siesta Key is outstanding in general flavors, but a bit light on the coconut taste. Because I have such a love for things super sweet, I need to mentioned two coconut rums which are too sweet for most folks. Sugar Island, made by the Trinchero family who are more known for their wines, including Sutter Home, is very sweet but outstanding coconut flavor. Blue Chair Bay, the rum line fronted by country musician Kenny Chesney, is sweet also but in a slightly artificial way. Bahama Bob once told us it reminded him of cupcake frosting.

One thing that most of the best coconut rums have in common is that they are full strength rums (40% abv or above) rather than liqueurs. Also they are from companies that are serious about their rums in general, producing mostly top shelf craft distillates rather than mass market product.

My two bottles of Siesta Key are here in town and will be at my happy hour tomorrow, so I will definitely be sampling them then. However, that is no reason not to get together and sample a bunch of other coconut rums.

Hi,
I’m writing from Germany, and I also like Coconut Rum very match. I find your side when I start searching good Coconut Rum Cocktails, I like the Leilani Volcano 🙂
My favorite is the Belmont Coconut Rum from St. Kitt’s.

Hi Haggy. Always good to meet another fan of both coconut rums and coconut and rum cocktails. The Belmont Coconut Rum is outstanding; one of my top ten favorites and a consistent favorite at our tastings. It is made by Demarara Distillers, the makers of El Dorado, so it is likely that it is made with Guyanese rum although flavored and bottled in St. Kitt’s. As good as it is, it is not necessarily the best coconut rum from its home island. Brinley Gold Shipwreck, made in the same island, has won a number of awards and is another favorite of mine.

I’m also a huge coconut rum fan….it’s truly an under appreciated drink. I was really hoping your experiment with infusing Shellback would be a success (Shellback is great go-to rum). I have a coconut rum suggestion that I really think you should try. An often overlooked bottom shelf brand…Castillo Coconut. I think you should try it against your top 3…..it’s that good!
Unfortunately, they were bought by Bacardi….but don’t let that keep you from trying Castillo. It’s my favorite (coconut) rum…..

Sugar Island is one of the sweetest tasting coconut rums extant. I don’t have a hydrometer, nor do I have Josh’s palate or scientific skill, but I suspect that it would be one of the highest sugar labels. It is, however, very good, at least for my sweet tooth. A natural sweetness, not the “cupcake frosting” taste of some brands that combine artificial sweeteners with artificial coconut. Siesta Key has more of a spice taste and less of a coconut taste than most coconut rums; I wouldn’t be surprised if it had a tad less sugar than some. Kalani, Koloa, Don Q, and Brinley Gold Shipwreck are among my favorite coconut rums readily available in the US; Mr. Schmidt might want to check them out.

It’s been so long since I’ve had any Belmont that I honestly can’t describe it any more, but I do recall that it was both a favorite of mine and a top scorer at some of the CapyBar’s comparative coconut rum tastings. I believe that I have about half a bottle left if anyone (starting with Josh and Gil, but open to any cocorum lovers able to get to Alameda) wants to do another tasting.

I know this thread is pretty old by now but in case you still check it I was wondering if you had any opinions on the new Captain Morgan coconut rum and where it would rank. It’s stronger proof like the Bacardi. Also I saw a little more expensive bottle called Blue Chair coconut rum…how does that rank?

Blue Chair is super sweet. Works well for my childlike palate, but I think most would find it a bit of a sugar bomb. If you like that style as much as I do, then I would recommend Sugar Island before Blue Chair. both are either good or bad, though, depending on how you like the heavy sweetness [and what cocktails you might create to take advantage of the sweetness].

Maybe I need to have another comparative tasting, but I think of Blue Chair and Sugar Island as far, far sweeter than Parrot Bay. Question for Josh: is it possible to hydrometer test flavored booze and liqueurs for added sugar, or do the flavoring additives make it impossible to calibrate?

As it happens, the CapyBar has added four new coconut rums in the last two days. Three (one Cuban and two Spanish) that I brought home from Cuba last night; and one from Belize that a drinking companion of mine was kind enough to leave for me at Forbidden Island.

I am a big fan of Rum Haven. Tried it down in the Keys and loved it. Unfortunately, I can’t find it at any liquor stores in the Bay Area, and the people who import it are singularly unhelpful. Next time I’m down in the keys, I’ll see if I can find a few bottles. I’ve only had it in bars and I wonder if that is the only way it is distributed so far.

Josh – I have heard people rave about the 90 proof version of Parrot Bay, have you had an opportunity to try that? I am very skeptical of anything from CM so am reluctant to buy a bottle until I hear something favorable from a reliable source. At only $13 a bottle I might just splurge though.